Short acting AAS on recovery days only.

[I6JQdr06]

Say an athlete is actively trying to avoid weight gain and only interested in the recovery benefits of taking AAS. Say they’re dialled in on TRT so shutdown isn’t an issue.

How effective would it be to use short acting compounds on rest days only to boost recovery performance?

 

[narta]

Say an athlete is actively trying to avoid weight gain and only interested in the recovery benefits of taking AAS. Say they’re dialled in on TRT so shutdown isn’t an issue.

How effective would it be to use short acting compounds on rest days only to boost recovery performance?

If you want to boost recovery look to into HGH and other HGH releasing agents

 

[I6JQdr06]

I’m not sure there’s any evidence that HGH helps with muscle recovery is there? I know people say it does but it’s not based on any evidence as far as I can tell.

Repairing fatigued/damaged connective tissue is another matter. There’s plenty of research to back that up.

 

[UncleBuns]

Lots of sleep, good food, hydration, and light exercise + mobility is what you need. If you take GH or any add on AAS it will enhance your recovery but it will also increase your weight. If you are in a performance phase I would just use TRT and maybe 2 IU GH. This will maximize recovery and minimize water weight. I don't think you can take more compound and stay the same weight without cutting which would hinder performance.

 

[I6JQdr06]

I’m curious as to why everyone thinks that GH helps with muscle recovery. Is there some research I’m not aware of?

 

[UncleBuns]

My understanding is that GH causes uptake of nutrients + nitrogen retention in muscle (which helps with recovery) and stimulates connective tissue growth/healing. IGF 1 increase in combination with AAS also stimulates anabolism.

Maybe it is bro science. I'm pretty sure I've seen research on this topic put I'd have to go digging. In my personal experience it works. I find 2 - 2.5 IU GH the best balance of weight gain vs recovery boost. Sleep like a rock as well.

 

[cmK9s33]

Say an athlete is actively trying to avoid weight gain and only interested in the recovery benefits of taking AAS. Say they’re dialled in on TRT so shutdown isn’t an issue.

How effective would it be to use short acting compounds on rest days only to boost recovery performance?

I would definitely consider HGH as others have suggested. I do believe it assists with muscular recovery, but even if it had no impact on muscle tissue, soft tissue recovery/resiliency is a big part of "recovery." Granted, higher doses of HGH will add some water weight, but if you drop it (or greatly reduce it) close to competition you'll lose nearly all of the additional water.

As to short acting aas, I believe similar tactics have been used by track and field athletes. Not on rest days but post-workout instead. And I'm talking small doses. For example 10-20mg 3x per week. Alternatively, you could add (for example) 10mg/day of turinabol 6 days a week. Fewer times per week would probably elicit lesser change to lipids.

I see little chance of harm from such an approach. Try implementing a version of the idea and assess after a couple weeks. You'll likely be able to make a determination if it is helping/hurting/neutral for you quickly.

 

[lukiss96]

I'm going to say anavar. It is not super exciting or sexy option, but at least you can use it for longer time and benefit from it at 20-30mg per day. You will feel it on top of your trt/cruise and enhance your athletic/gym/whatever performance you're seeking to improve. No need to use it only on training days, better use it everyday at such dosages you should stay in decent health, considering of course you're healthy now. So yeah, remember that we are all different and some people struggle to maintain good health on trt solo, but hey I have a feeling something else is not dialed in their lifestyle in most cases.

 

[I6JQdr06]

As to short acting aas, I believe similar tactics have been used by track and field athletes. Not on rest days but post-workout instead. And I'm talking small doses. For example 10-20mg 3x per week.

I’m assuming there’s track and field athletes would use anavar or winstrol for this purpose?

 

[I6JQdr06]

better use it everyday at such dosages you should stay in decent health

For many athletes it’s not about staying in good health, it’s about minimising AAS exposure to avoid excessive hypertrophy. Hence limiting dosing to the times when recovery is required

 

[eery]

Lots of sleep, good food, hydration, and light exercise + mobility is what you need. If you take GH or any add on AAS it will enhance your recovery but it will also increase your weight. If you are in a performance phase I would just use TRT and maybe 2 IU GH. This will maximize recovery and minimize water weight. I don't think you can take more compound and stay the same weight without cutting which would hinder performance.

Your bigger determintant of weight gain would be your calorie balance, you could run 5g of gear and stay the same weight if you restrict your calories.

Depending on what kind of athlete you are a base of AAS at ~3-10mg/kg, 2-3iu gh and using some fast acting insulin periworkout could be a viable option to help recovery. Depending on your sport theres other things you could add to enhance performance or recovery and so on.

 

[cmK9s33]

I’m assuming there’s track and field athletes would use anavar or winstrol for this purpose?

I'm certain there are. I just used turinabol as an example.

For many athletes it’s not about staying in good health, it’s about minimising AAS exposure to avoid excessive hypertrophy. Hence limiting dosing to the times when recovery is required

Yes that's certainly true but I generally feel a bit irresponsible to at least not mention that piece of the equation. Just my opinion though.

A small amount of post-workout insulin might be helpful as well. I mean less than 5iu.

 

[T&H]

I’m curious as to why everyone thinks that GH helps with muscle recovery. Is there some research I’m not aware of?

I've used hgh at varying doses, and personally never noticed improved recovery from it. So my experience agrees with your opinion. Now some might, but I don't.

My recommendation, don't fork out the high price tag of hgh in hopes it will for you.

 

[lukiss96]

For many athletes it’s not about staying in good health, it’s about minimising AAS exposure to avoid excessive hypertrophy. Hence limiting dosing to the times when recovery is required

That's why you avoid heavy artillery (high T, deca and so on) and use something like anavar/turinabol like I suggested. Any weight gain is on your diet, not steroid itself. I never heard 150mg of Testosterone combined with 20-30mg anavar caused "excessive hypertrophy" unless you consider soccer players or swimmers to be excessive. Besides athlete is a broad term, how about WWE superstars? They're called super athletes, but some of them are very big, yet more athletic than perhaps everyone on here. So within the context. Study AAS more to get the idea.

 

[I6JQdr06]

Any weight gain is on your diet, not steroid itself.

Your bigger determintant of weight gain would be your calorie balance

I think this belief that it’s not possible to build muscle while on a calorie deficit is another example of “bro science” which isn’t supported by the research.

There are tons of studies which show “recomp” in trained individuals (IE fat is metabolised and used as extra calories for anabolism).

Sure you can’t lose muscle if you starve yourself, but you also can’t perform at peak capacity either. Hypertrophy is absolutely possible on -250 kcal

 

[Millard]

I think this belief that it’s not possible to build muscle while on a calorie deficit is another example of “bro science” which isn’t supported by the research.

There are tons of studies which show “recomp” in trained individuals (IE fat is metabolised and used as extra calories for anabolism).

Sure you can’t lose muscle if you starve yourself, but you also can’t perform at peak capacity either. Hypertrophy is absolutely possible on -250 kcal

Of course, technically you are correct!

It's just that most people who use AAS very much want to gain muscle. And not only that, they want to gain as much muscle as fast as possible. So using an isocaloric diet or hypocaloric diet to do so seems bizarre (and of course inefficient and usually counterproductive).

But for your purposes (i.e. recovery without LBM), I get it.

However, I'm not sure any differing "muscle-building" properties of various AAS is really the primary determinant of identifying the best suited AAS for recovery-only purposes. Other AAS-specific factors could be more important such as effects on water balance, glycogen storage, etc.

And I'm not necessarily convinced the recomposition from less fat to more muscle is necessarily detrimental on a hypocaloric diet because the muscle gain will be limited.

I guess an athlete, although probably not a highly-trained athlete, could possibly lose 5 lbs fat and gain 10 lbs muscle and this would probably be a bad. But losing 5lbs fat and gaining 5lbs or less muscle seems more likely. And this would be a good outcome. Depending on the sport, it just may not be as good an outcome as a overall loss of 5 lbs

 

[UncleBuns]

Your bigger determintant of weight gain would be your calorie balance, you could run 5g of gear and stay the same weight if you restrict your calories.

Depending on what kind of athlete you are a base of AAS at ~3-10mg/kg, 2-3iu gh and using some fast acting insulin periworkout could be a viable option to help recovery. Depending on your sport theres other things you could add to enhance performance or recovery and so on.

The issue I run into is that if I restrict calories it inhibits my performance noticeably. Anything above testosterone at a high end replacement dose and I get heavier. Even on TRT I weigh a bit more than natural but the benefits outweigh the slight extra weight.

 

[I6JQdr06]

The issue I run into is that if I restrict calories it inhibits my performance noticeably. Anything above testosterone at a high end replacement dose and I get heavier. Even on TRT I weigh a bit more than natural but the benefits outweigh the slight extra weight.

Yeah. I have the same issue.

Running, say, Anavar for a few weeks to achieve a specific training objective seems better than upping from TRT to a cycle of injectable steroids. I wonder if using that anavar periodically, as needed, just on days when I feel I need the boost in recovery would be as efficient but lead to less hypertrophy?

Or what about something more powerful, but just when needed? Metribolone with its 4ish hour half life is conveniently in and out.

This is the point where I expect bodybuilders to flood into the conversation to point out that’s not how steroids work, but I’d ask that they reframe their assumptions. Maybe it’s not how steroids work to achieve THEIR aims.

 

[UncleBuns]

Yeah. I have the same issue.

Running, say, Anavar for a few weeks to achieve a specific training objective seems better than upping from TRT to a cycle of injectable steroids. I wonder if using that anavar periodically, as needed, just on days when I feel I need the boost in recovery would be as efficient but lead to less hypertrophy?

Or what about something more powerful, but just when needed? Metribolone with its 4ish hour half life is conveniently in and out.

This is the point where I expect bodybuilders to flood into the conversation to point out that’s not how steroids work, but I’d ask that they reframe their assumptions. Maybe it’s not how steroids work to achieve THEIR aims.

Any added AAS increases my weight in a dose dependent fashion. For example, Oxandralone is considered a "dry" compound but I easily weigh 10 lbs more after 4 weeks on it with no hypertrophy training. Although, I've never tried low dose masteron with TRT which will be my next experiment. I just do short blasts of 6 - 8 weeks for training periods and except that I'll be heavier and slower, then drop back to TRT and let the water weight come off for performance.

Keep in mind that hypertrophy won't just happen. You have to train and eat for hypertrophy if that's your goal.

Oxandralone is by far my favorite add on for short "blasts". Does everything I'm looking for in a compound and when you stop taking it the effects are gone fairly quickly.

 

[Leg_locker]

I wonder if using that anavar periodically, as needed, just on days when I feel I need the boost in recovery would be as efficient but lead to less hypertrophy?

Iv tried "pulsing" anavar at doses from 20-40mg never really noticed a difference but running low dose for 2-3 weeks straight I do find helped me with recovery w/o adding any mass.
Tbol is my favorite oral great strength and endurance boost. Didn't add a significant amount of weight @40mg/Ed but the cramping can be insane with it. Had to take 5g taurine a day to midagate the forearm pumps.

What sport btw?